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Profile of Gloria Steinem

Activist / Writer

Date Of Birth:

25 March 1934

Place Of Birth:

Toledo, Ohio

Best Known As:

The feminist who co-founded Ms. magazine

Gloria Steinem became the voice and the face of feminism in the 1970s as a co-founder of Ms. magazine and the National Women's Political Caucus. A 1956 graduate of Smith College, Steinem spent two years on a fellowship in India and began a career in journalism. Settling in New York, her 1963 article "A Bunny's Tale" put her on the map -- it was an examination of the sexism in the Playboy Club, where she worked undercover as a "bunny." After freelancing for several years, Gloria Steinem was given a column in New York Magazine in 1968. She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971 and its first full issue hit the stands in early 1972. Since then, she's been a high profile advocate for equal rights for women, receiving both praise and criticism from other feminists as the movement has changed over the years. A lecturer and writer, her work includes the 1969 article "After Black Power, Women's Lib," and the books Marilyn (1986, about actress Marilyn Monroe) and Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992).

Extra Credit:

Once a critic of marriage, Gloria Steinem married David Bale of South Africa in 2000. He died in 2003. Bale was the father of actor Christian Bale… President Barack Obama awarded Steinem the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.